We were looking at some pics of the Wagonmaster and its previous incarnation and couldn't figure out how the steering worked. The front axle doesn't appear to have any steering knuckles, did the whole axle pivot side to side? Anyone have the answer? None of us at our shop could figure it out.
triplex- Both fronts do turn in the regular fashion. Actually, the steering is pretty much as you'd imagine. There's a very long rod running from the steering wheel and down between the motors to a steering box that mounts behind (and above)the axle - then a tie rod, etc. like a regular set up. It's all just hard to see in anything but a straight-on photo as the huge tires block the view of it from the side - and I imagine the front body piece on the Wagonmaster (an abortion of the original, I always thought). Sorry I don't have any good pix (I'm looking at my scale model for this description), but I'm sure if you look around for pix of the dragster version on the web you'll find plenty.
I remember meeting Tom Ivo in around 1960 in Maywood, IL at Speed Craft. He had the twin Buick dragster then and a curly headed kid was helping him...Don Prudhome(sp)?. I believe Ron Pelligrini eventually bought that car and then Bud Bailey bought it from Ron. I went to the dragstrip with Bud Bailey to run the car. I had a chance to drive it, got in, but my feet were too big to operate the pedals. Paul J.
Get yourself the Dec 1961 Hot Rod. Lots of cool pix of the car. Here are some I took pix of. I don't have a scanner so I took them with my camera. But you can see how the steering works